Metallic Compounds of Uranium under Neutron Irradiation and the Possibility of Their Nondestructive Testing

摘要

A model describing the effect of neutron irradiation on metallic uranium compounds is proposed to take into account two opposite phenomena, namely, effective expansion (swelling) of the crystal lattice due to an increase in the volume occupied by radiation-induced defects and compression caused by the pressure created on the crystal lattice by these defects. In magnetic uranium compounds such as uranium nitride UN, this compression results in a significant change in the anti-ferromagnetic transition temperature, whose measurement makes it possible to estimate the properties of the crystal lattice in the compound.